Week 8 - Assignment 1

Article 1 – “The iPad Effect: Leveraging Engagement, Collaboration, and Perseverance”

Some of the statistics mentioned in this article were really astonishing. It mentions that a technology director in a Chicago public school district saw a “50 to 60 percent” increase in Reading, Math and Science classes that used the iPads in the classroom. The article also talks about a connection between the use of iPads and an increase in students’ “enhanced emotional engagement, collaborative behaviors, and perseverance.” These are great outcomes that are occurring in the classrooms across the nation. I think more and more schools are noticing how effective iPads can be in a classroom. At the moment there is no specific data that shows the increase in test scores due to using iPads in the classroom. Eventually I think teachers will see an increase in test scores as a result of the digital learning that is taking place with the help of the iPads. I found this article to be remarkable.

Article 2 - “TECHnology and Literacy for Adolescents with Disabilities”

This article was very informative. Technology is a great tool for differentiated instruction, especially for students with disabilities. I learned that students with disabilities have special Individualized Education Programs that state exactly what type of technology they need in order to support their instructional and learning activities. Technology that the disabled students need to communicate and interact with others is called assistive technology. Technology that can enhance a student’s instruction is called classroom technology and it can be programed with a specific content such as Science or Social Studies. According to the article, the goal of TECH is as follows:

1.     Target the students' need and the learning outcome.

2.     Examine the technology choices, then decide what to use.

3.     Create opportunities to integrate technology with other instructional activities.

4.     Handle the implementation and monitor the impact on students’ learning.

Article 3 - Classroom Remix: Patterns of Pedagogy in a Techno-Literacies Poetry Unit

I was intrigued by the title of this article and wanted to read it right away. I never heard of the terms “classroom remix” or “techno-literacy”. From what I understand, techno-literacy is basically literacy that has to do with new technologies that are digital and multimodal. The classroom remixes in this article focus on three areas: composition remix, mindset remix and participation remix. The composition remix is done through a PowerPoint presentation that merged the “visual, linguistic and auditory” components into one. It portrayed the shift from reading a poem from a page to a screen. The mindset remix is created when teachers and students created a collage of insider and outsider mindset. The students who are proficient in using technology are considered the “insiders.” The students who show some anxiety and need constant support from the teacher in using technology are called the “outsiders.” The article also used the terms digital natives and digital immigrants to distinguish between the two groups. Finally, the participation remix showed the shift in participation among the students. The inclusion students who have learning disabilities suddenly became very engaged in the task when it involved technology. Overall, this article was very stimulating and showed some good example classroom remixes.